The  Metropolitan Transportation Commission recommended a route Wednesday for a planned high-speed rail line linking Northern and Southern California.

The selection of the Pacheco Pass route is controversial, and has been publicly opposed by several environmental groups.

“I have to believe politics was involved, and specifically a coalition of folks that want very much to have San Jose be the hub of the high speed rail system,” said Stuart Flashman[cq], an Oakland-based attorney representing the coalition of environmental groups, which includes the Sierra Club.

(more…)